To help adult learners, edtech tools should be designed for their needs and goals, support them in virtually communicating with instructors and classmates and offer them a smooth mobile experience, according to a new report published on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education.

Called “Changing the Equation: Empowering Adult Learners with Edtech,” it’s the culmination of three years of research commissioned by the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education through its Power in Numbers initiative.

The goal of the project has been to better equip instructors with techniques, tools and open educational resources that will help them teach adults the advanced math skills needed for modern jobs, says Christina Ward, engagement manager at Luminary Labs, a consulting firm the government hired to oversee Power in Numbers.

“People tend to have ‘math trauma,’” Ward says. “It’s a sticking point for a lot of adult learners that we elevate in the reports.”

Edtech developers have focused more on building tools for children than adults, according to the Power in Numbers research. While grown-ups may be able to adapt children’s resources, these may not adequately address adult circumstances, like the competing time demands of education, job duties and family obligations.

Many online classes and tools suffer from low student retention. The research suggests that participation is improved when digital education systems integrate communication tools that help learners collaborate and get feedback from their instructors. The extent to which learning tools “contextualize” instruction with real-world and job-focused applications matters too.

Giving Compass' Take:
• Stanford Social Innovation Review explains how nonprofits can use the expertise of code switchers who interact with both the tech and social sectors.
• How can philanthropists fund technology for social good? What are high-impact opportunities for tech integration at nonprofits?
• Learn more on how digital tech is transforming social innovation.
We are at an inflection point in the social sector. The rise of digital technology has opened a chasm between mission-driven organizations who are able to harness the power of data and technology, and those who cannot.
Digital data is what trains the algorithms that dictate your Facebook newsfeed and inform advertisers of whether they should target you with their products and services, but it can also be harnessed for good. For organizations like Medic Mobile, which designs and delivers software for health workers providing care in hard-to-reach communities, or GlobalGiving, the first global crowdfunding platform, these algorithms make it possible to achieve impact more efficiently and effectively.
But while these organizations—essentially nonprofit tech companies—exemplify innovation in the nonprofit sector, they are by and large the exception.
This lack of fluency comes at a time when government is shrinking; the private sector is growing; and global challenges like climate change, famine, and refugee crises are worsening. All of this means the demands on mission-driven organizations, which exist to address challenges at the core of inequality and injustice in our world, are increasing.
To keep pace, it’s crucial that mission-driven organizations foster data fluency so that they can execute the kind of innovative, entrepreneurial, transformational programs and collaborations necessary to remain effective, vibrant, and sustainable.
The art of “code switching”:
The “code switchers” in the social sector are people who fill an important delta between specialists—data scientists, machine learning experts, and AI designers—and people who need to rapidly learn and implement those learnings in their own work.
Read the full article about the digital/data divide by Asha Curran and Julia Rhodes Davis at Stanford Social Innovation Review.

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